Company could call it quits on Chicago's dockless bike-sharing pilot over city's lock rules

Rose Baca / Dallas Morning News

Rental bikes are piled on a street corner in downtown Dallas on Jan. 4, 2018. Chicago is conducting a test run of dockless bike-sharing.

Rental bikes are piled on a street corner in downtown Dallas on Jan. 4, 2018. Chicago is conducting a test run of dockless bike-sharing. (Rose Baca / Dallas Morning News)

Elvia MalagonChicago Tribune

At least one company could pack up its bicycles and walk away from Chicago’s test run of dockless bike-sharing over the city’s looming lock requirements.

By July 1, dockless cycles must have locking equipment so they can be tethered to a bike rack, signpost or other fixed object — possibly a cable or some type of U-lock system that private cyclists use. The city’s Department of Transportation is reviewing the requests to change the deadline, department spokesman Mike Claffey said in an email.

But officials from two of the companies — California-based LimeBike and China-based Ofo — involved in a dockless bike-sharing pilot project on the Far South Side say they are pushing for the city to eliminate the requirement entirely, saying the locking rule creates an unnecessary hassle for riders. Right now the bikes offered by those companies are equipped wheel locks, which allow riders to pedal to their destinations and lock the bike to itself.

Dockless programs allow users to locate bikes to rent through a phone app instead of getting one from a fixed bike station. The city’s staple bike-sharing program, Divvy, uses docking stations. But dockless programs have had growing pains in other cities because some users park bikes carelessly, cluttering sidewalks. That’s what prompted the city to institute the rule.

Gabriel Scheer, director of strategic development for LimeBike, said the company has no intention of modifying its line of electric-assist bikes to comply with the rule and may have to abandon the pilot program. He said there are fewer bike racks in the area where the companies are piloting the program — from 79th to 138th streets and from the Skyway to Pulaski Road — and filling up racks with rentals could annoy residents trying to store their own bikes.

“We really don’t want to leave Chicago,” Scheer said. “Our goal is to work with the city to see how we can all be happy with the situation.”

Marco McCottry, senior director of North American operations for Ofo, also said it’s too soon to say what the company will do once July 1 rolls around.

“Right now, we are actively engaging with the city to try to expand under the current operating terms,” McCottry said.

If the city keeps the locking rule in place, Massachusetts-based Zagster’s Pace may be the last one standing, as its bikes come with built-in cables that can lock to fixed objects. Officials have told the Tribune they favor such a locking requirement.

Ofo and LimeBike told the Tribune that Chicago is the only city that has required the rentals to be capable of being locked to a physical object.

“The real cost, physically, is not so great,” Scheer said. “The bigger reason, it’s not an equitable way to serve people.”

The companies want more time to gauge the desire for the dockless bike service in Chicago. LimeBike statistics show some 1,900 rides have been logged on their rentals, Scheer said. McCottry said that 96 percent of its bikes have been used since May.

The city allowed Zagster’s Pace to have up to 250 bikes during the pilot while limiting Ofo and LimeBike to 50. Pace and Ofo charge $1 for 30 minutes, and LimeBike charges $1 to unlock in addition to 15 cents per minute. Divvy charges $3 for 30 minutes.